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I have a friend who contracts with HBO for publicity and such, and I'll see what I can find out from them. This would be a huge coup for manga if it happens, but the coded language in all these news stories suggests it's still in the potential stage rather than having been greenlit.

It would be great to see Monster get a HBO series. At least you could get Viz to reprint the manga if that happened. Depending on how people respond to it, it would make it easier to convince them to actually release the whole series on DVD (or Blu-Ray).

I just hope it doesn't turn into "Action thriller starting some American star taking place in Detroit".
East Germany commie experiment will be replaced by "evil American government conspiracy"
Magnificent Steiner is replaced by the Incredible Hulk.
Heinrich is a donuts eater that looks like Columbo.

It has been more than 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union. There is an entire generation of young adults today with no personal memory of the Cold War. From that perspective, I fear the temptation to rewrite the story and change the setting will be very strong. There will be a strong desire to "update" the plot to make it more relevant to contemporary audiences.

Like Guardian Enzo, I suspect that this project hasn't yet been green lit. I remember the talk and excitement about adapting Monster to film and, as expected, it never took off.

Of course, one can still hope for the best. If this is indeed going ahead to production, what kind of timeline are we likely to see? A pilot episode by perhaps 2015?

Even if the project eventually goes forward, I think it's quite likely it won't be set in Japan and will be updated to a current-day or even future setting. Might as well get prepared for it now so as not to be disappointed later.

Even if the project eventually goes forward, I think it's quite likely it won't be set in Japan and will be updated to a current-day or even future setting. Might as well get prepared for it now so as not to be disappointed later.

?

The story was never set in Japan in the first place.
The bulk majority of the story is in Germany.

Even if the project eventually goes forward, I think it's quite likely it won't be set in Japan and will be updated to a current-day or even future setting. Might as well get prepared for it now so as not to be disappointed later.

You probably meant it won't be set in the former Warsaw Pact countries of Central and Eastern Europe.

Well, I highly expect Dr Kenzo Tenma to become an American character. I've always felt, in any case, that his nationality was a contrivance for the sake of the manga's domestic audience. It never really mattered that Tenma was Japanese, only that he was a foreigner who depended on an unfamiliar social network to advance his career. Also, I never really felt that Naoki Urasawa nailed European culture accurately — his ostensibly European characters behaved and spoke with very Japanese mannerisms. Their personal philosophies tended to be vaguely Japanese, and not really European.

Nevertheless, the Cold War setting is an inextricable part of the plot. The eugenics and social conditioning that created the titular monster of the series are things that we can readily associate with the place and era, because similar atrocities did in fact occur there and then in real life.

I'm all for creative liberty, but it will be a challenge to adapt Monster for HBO if the series has to be made relevant to an American audience. I hope Del Toro would set the bar higher and aim for a series that would appeal to the broadest possible global audience. I almost wish some European or British production company took up the project instead. There would have been a greater chance of authentic locations and actors being cast for the show.

Nevertheless, the Cold War setting is an extricable part of the plot. The eugenics and social conditioning that created the titular monster of the series are things that we can readily associate with the place and era, because similar atrocities did in fact occur there and then in real life.

While the cold war is crucial to the plot,most of the action takes place once it has ended, so maybe just have a longer timeskip than in the manga?
Have the first episode set in the 1980s and then just skip to present day (which was 1994 in the manga and would be 201x for the TV show), that would make everyone considerably older than they were in the manga but it's not something I'd mind, though I guess explaining why Johann would have waited so long to contact Dr Tenma again might be an issue.

While the cold war is crucial to the plot,most of the action takes place once it has ended, so maybe just have a longer timeskip than in the manga?

Have the first episode set in the 1980s and then just skip to present day (which was 1994 in the manga and would be 201x for the TV show), that would make everyone considerably older than they were in the manga but it's not something I'd mind, though I guess explaining why Johann would have waited so long to contact Dr Tenma again might be an issue.

The issue isn't about the timeskip, but the setting. As I said, the eugenics and social conditioning that formed a central part of the plot are things we more readily associate with that part of the world, in that period of history. How would they be transposed to a modern American setting? As aohige suggests, the experiments could conceivably be rewritten into a giant government conspiracy to create a "super soldier" or something equivalent, and the neo-Nazi/Stalinist villains of story could conceivably become variants of the Ku Klux Klan.

I suppose this could still work, but it will lose a great deal of the authenticity that made Monster special.

As for the chase and police-procedural elements of the story, recall that Americans have seen them all before in The FugitiveTV series and movie. I expect HBO producers and executives will ask what sets Monster apart from that intellectual property, which has acquired a semi-cult status of its own.

The issue isn't about the timeskip, but the setting. As I said, the eugenics and social conditioning that formed a central part of the plot are things we more readily associate with that part of the world, in that period of history. How would they be transposed to a modern American setting?

Oh right,I was just assuming they'd keep the german setting (and while I wouldn't bet on it I'm keeping my hopes up), if they don't you'd indeed have to find an equivalent.Which might be tough.Don't really like the government conspiracy card.
I'd buy into it if you told me that the "monster" was a product of North Korean experiments though.
(I'm just throwing that one out there,havn't even thought on how to make it work )

I couldn't care less about the protagonist being asian or not though. (unless him being american and not japanese somehow really affects the plot but I can't remember that being the case.)

I seriously doubt the context of the story will be changed that much. FX has a critical (and somewhat ratings) hit with The Americans, a taunt Cold War thriller, so I see no reason why HBO would not heavily consider keeping the original setting or timeline of the manga series (since they know that the era involved is not necessarily a turn-off, nor is it that much of a budget issue).

I seriously doubt the context of the story will be changed that much. FX has a critical (and somewhat ratings) hit with The Americans, a taunt Cold War thriller, so I see no reason why HBO would not heavily consider keeping the original setting or timeline of the manga series (btw, why is this thread in General Anime and not General Chat?).